EXCLUSIVE: Fire Country is getting not one but two major new additions for its upcoming fifth season. Following Eric Guggenheim’s arrival as executive producer and showrunner, the CBS firefighter drama has cast Olivia Thirlby (Oppenheimer, Y: The Last Man) as a new series regular for Season 5. She will play a new firefighter, CJ.
Both hires are significant as they mark first showrunner change on the series, which was run by Tia Napolitano for its first four seasons, and first series regular cast addition, the latter of which is highly unusual for a broadcast series.
Fire Country had kept its original main cast intact for three seasons until the shakeup after the Season 3 finale, which saw the exits of Billy Burke and Stephanie Arcila. No new series regulars had been added to the show until now as Thirlby joins returning OGs Max Thieriot, Kevin Alejandro, Jordan Calloway, Jules Latimerand Diane Farr.
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Thirlby will play Cecilia Jade “CJ” Ryan, a quick-witted, fiercely independent, blue-collar, decorated urban firefighter who bolted her station house and city for mysterious reasons. After six months on the road, trying to outrun whatever happened, and herself, fate strands her in Edgewater where she crosses paths with Bode. Despite having no experience fighting woodland fires, Bode believes CJ has something to offer Station 42. And despite the serious culture shock, this fish out of water comes to believe rural Edgewater has something to offer her.
Fire Country is returning this fall for Season 5 which, as Deadline revealed exclusively, will be shorter, consisting of 13 episodes. The series continues to win its Thursday time slot and does well on streaming.
Created by Joan Rater, Tony Phelan and Thieriot, Fire Country is produced by CBS Studios. Guggenheim, Rater, Phelan and Thieriot executive produce alongside Bill Purple and Jerry Bruckheimer and KristieAnne Reed for JBTV.
Thirlby recently recurred on NBC/Peacock’s Law & Order: Organized Crime and Disney+’s Wonder Man. She has movie Archangel coming up. Thirlby is repped by Verve, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
